This invention relates to an integrated circuit tester.
A typical integrated circuit tester includes a test head that comprises a main chassis having numerous pin electronics cards mounted therein. The pin electronics cards are disposed parallel to each other and perpendicular to an interconnection board that is disposed above the pin electronics cards. Terminals of the pin electronics cards are electrically connected to terminals on the lower side of the interconnection board.
On its upper side, the interconnection board is provided with an array of connectors having terminals connected to the terminals on the lower side of the interconnection board.
The test head is used in conjunction with a so-called DUT board or load board. The DUT board has sockets on its upper side for receiving units of a device under test (DUT) and has connectors on its lower side for engaging the connectors of the interconnection board. The DUT board serves as an interface between the test head and a device handler, which places units of the DUT in the DUT sockets of the DUT board so that the tester can carry out a test on the particular units.
The DUT board is especially designed and manufactured for use with units of a particular device or product. Thus, in the event that the tester has been used to test units of a first device and is subsequently to be used to test units of a second, different, device, in may be necessary to change the DUT board. This involves removing the DUT board for the first device from the test head and attaching the DUT board for the second device to the test head. Because of the large number of pins in the connectors of the interconnection board (each connector may have 100 or more pins), the force required to engage a DUT board with the interconnection board, or disengage a DUT board from the interconnection board, is considerable. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that the DUT board, when being attached or removed, moves perpendicular to the plane of the interconnection board so that neither the DUT board nor the interconnection board will be damaged by tilting of the DUT board relative to the interconnection board.